According to a new study BPA may interfere with learning and with memory and remembering
by Michael Smith
Bisphenol A, found in hard plastic containers, may interfere with how we learn and remember, researchers at the University of Guelph have discovered.
Coinciding with the release of the National Toxicology Program report on BPA, a new study reports that researchers from the Yale School of Medicine and Guelph University exposed African Green monkeys on the Island of St. Kitts to low levels of Bisphenol A for a month. They found that even low doses of BPA slow down the synapses in the brain.
"It dramatically impairs the formation of synapses in the regions of the brain important to learning," biomedical science professor Neil MacLusky of the University of Guelph said.
"These findings are worrisome”, he said, “because BPA is one of the most widely-used chemicals in the world."
Researchers say there is a possibility that BPA might be a factor in brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, depression and schizophrenia. Oh cheers, pal!
According to Medical News Today, This synaptic loss may cause memory/learning impairments and depression, according to study results published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Our primate model indicates that BPA could negatively affect brain function in humans," said study co-author Tibor Hajszan, M.D., associate research scientist in Yale Ob/Gyn. "Based on these new findings, we think the EPA may wish to consider lowering its 'safe daily limit' for human BPA consumption."
Hajszan said that although daily exposure of an average person to BPA usually does not reach the level that was applied in this study, human exposure to BPA is not limited to a single month, but rather is continuous over a lifetime. "The negative effect of BPA may also be amplified when estradiol levels are naturally lower than in healthy adults. That is why exposure to BPA may particularly be risky in the case of babies and the elderly."
BPA is used in plastic water bottles, some baby bottles, dental prostheses and sealers,
the lining inside of food cans, and probably other applications we may not even aware of publicly as yet. The chemical can leak from the products and be absorbed through eating or drinking.
At least, as far as water bottles are concerned there are now 100% BPA free ones available such as the “We Want Tap” water bottle recently reviewd in the pages of this journal.
While the government of Canada has banned BPA, a move which forced Nalgene to remove all its sports bottles and other water bottles from the shelves, the US Federal Drug and Administration is perfectly happy with industry funded research that states that the chemical is safe and the FDA basically says that BPA is safe for babies and everyone else.
The worrying fact is that despite more than 100 published studies by government scientists and university laboratories that have raised health concerns about a chemical compound that is central to the multibillion-dollar plastics industry, the Food and Drug Administration has deemed it safe largely because of two studies, both funded by an industry trade group. May one ask how much bung money has come the agency's way to accept such findings?
So much for an organization that is supposed to be protecting the health of the nation. With organizations as reliable that them in place the American people sure do not need enemies.
© M Smith (Veshengro), September 2008
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Bisphenol A may make you stupid and depressed
